Walk right up to your local courthouse and file a piece of paper that demands your month's wages. If you win then the company has to pay your $50 filing fee (or whatever they charge). It's called Small Claims Court and then you have to pay like an additional $25 for them to serve the paperwork to them.

Ok so I really hope this did not just happen to you. Because holy cow. I would be quite the mess - as in...probably a pint of cheap-o ice cream with chocolate fudge, on sale christmas candy wrappers and probably really really really bad TV. BUT, I also think the regardless of whether or not you are/were working for a Non Profit company you deserved to be paid for the time you put in. Even if it's less than you normally make. You aren't a volunteer...it's your job. And although you may hurt some people or "burn some bridges" in the process, you have to think/worry about you - because you have bills to be paid and you need to get food on your own table.Sorry for the rant - but I think you should push/pursue what you need to so you get some sort of reimbursement for the time you worked.

what??? what????? No. No, no, no. I would FREAK OUT. I mean FREAK. But that's because I'm overly dramatic and overly emotional and easily set off. But still. NO!! I would totally pursue some way of getting paid, because that is just NOT RIGHT - whether they got the grant or no. URG! Now I'm all worked up for you. Man that sucks.

Hey- this actually happened to me! Yes, they have to pay your wages, so get your cute ass to the courthouse immediately and start the process. Second off- go to the unemployment office. You aren't fired.. but this is called a lay off- not a furlough because they can't tell you specifically when you are coming back. And then while you're at it, look for a new job. This is the first sign of everything going down the shitter. :)

Hypothetically I would go bat shit and proceed to kick said director in the nuts or whatever junkage they carry in between their legs then I'd hire me a lawyer. They can't just not pay you. That's against the law. Unless you signed something like "Hi I'm Helena and I agree to work my ass off this month and not get paid for it" and I doubt you did.Time to break out the shit kicking boots.

Hypothetically... I would cry... then be mad... then get even! Good thing state laws require them to pay you for your wages and they may even be required to pay other emotional stress and any late fees you may have incurred from not receiving your pay. Then I would hold my head high clean out my desk and file for unemployment as well as search high and low for a dependable job! But thats all just hypothetically of course! :)

oh man. sunday will be awkward...or every sunday. I just cant see him screwing you like that. he knows we are poor dental students. holidays is a good time to pick up holiday jobs...after that, Id become a stripper. they make good money!! kidding aside...im sorry!!!

This comes from a woman who spent hours and hours on the phone with an online travel agency that cheated us out of $900, although the Indian workers who handled the phones were not responsible for it and I would yell at them things like "How can you live with yourself?"

This also comes from a woman who swore at the ice cream vendor at the Eiffel Tower, 9 months pregnant, as husband inched away.

I'd do small claims court as well, they do lawfully have to pay you somehow, if you've already worked the hours. sucks that your boss is the 'shop, i didn't know that. may be awkward afterwards, but you like awkward! i'd just let him know that you'll be pursuing legal action to get paid for the month no matter what, and yeah, start looking around for something else! in the meantime, christmas crafting!!! and chat with me on gchat all day, cause all i do is sit around on my unemployed rear all day.

Like everyone has suggested, they have a legal obligation to pay you. Pursue it. It's definitely a small claims court issue, do not contact EEOC (equal employment opportunity coalition or something like that) because HYPOTHETICALLY I may have contacted them before and they only help with discrimination cases on the basis of age, sex, religion, etc.

Though they did age discriminate, hypothetically, by saying age discrimination cases were for people of a certain age or older.

I hope everything works our for you. Honestly, the next thing I would do is peruse unemployment and enjoy the time off. I miss having time off.

I would more than freak out! But like everyone else has said you need to take action, you are entitled to what you have earned. On finding another job, PRAY! God will take care of you and Kurt during this time!

I'm an old veteran of contract work, so here's what I don't understand... someone up that chain is in charge of funding. The way it's supposed to work (and supposed to be in the contract this way to protect you from exactly this) is that you don't DO work unless the funding is already there to pay for it. While a lost grant would lose future employment you and your boss shouldn't have been still doing work if the means to pay for it wasn't yet secured.

If you wind up having to fight for what they owe you (and they have a legal obligation to pay for it, even if it means selling off office supplies to do so), you may want to look into how the decision was made to carry on working when it wasn't yet clear how it would be paid for. Even the government shuts down if the funding hasn't gone through yet. NO ONE is expected to have to gamble on whether or not they'll get paid for labor they've already offered.

Well, hi. I'm Helena. I grew up on a blueberry farm in Western Michigan. My days were spent reading on the beach in the summer, and reading in my bedroom under a quilt in the chilly Michigan winter. I moved out to Utah to go to school, and to get away from my family. You know, typical angsty teenager stuff. While out there, I met this guy named Kurt, who was also from Michigan. But we were just friends.

Flash forward 9 years. We got married, and then we moved to Pittsburgh so he could go to Dental School. What can I say, the guy likes teeth. Now we have a little girl, a baby boy, two little turtles, and a whole new adventure ahead of us. Welcome to my life.